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A Nation of Football

I had known a little about Brazil and its passion for football and its dominance in the football world before I visited the South American country, but I had never understood why the country is a football superpower. My visit to Brazil gave me an education on the subject.

Football pitches can be seen everywhere in both the downtown and slums of Rio de Janeiro probably because Brazil as the fifth largest country in the world can afford such land luxuries. On our way from the airport to the downtown, we saw shantytowns where houses were made largely of cardboards. I learned that Pele, the Brazilian world-class football legend, came from one of the shantytowns and that he still visits his roots there now and then. For many young Brazilians, football is probably the only way out. As my visit happened in the off season, I didnt have the chance to watch a match at the Maracana stadium where Pele scored his 1,000th goal and where many spectacular games happened. But I visited the stadium anyway. In a corridor just outside of the stadium we saw footprints and handprints of some greatest Brazilian footballers. When I was there, a large group of children were admiring and pointing out the names of the stars. They shouted in amazement and excitement. Some frolicked imitating the famed footballers.

Beaches are the pleasure grounds for the people who love football. On weekends people rush to beaches to play a game or two. Those who play and those who watch are a big spectacle of contagious passion. Even those like me who dont have the passion were infected.

Automobiles in Cuba

Roads in Cuba are narrow but there is no traffic jam. You dont need to worry about getting blocked anywhere. There are not so many automobiles in Cuba. Only a few people and businesses that have outperformed are allowed to buy automobiles. An automobile, once bought, cant be scrapped. You just drive it till it cant run anymore. A car in the street amazed us. It didnt have any windows and none of the direction indicators was working. The driver had to use his hand to indicate when he wanted to turn. When the automobile stopped, we rushed over and took pictures. The driver smiled and cooperated and posed with us for pictures. Private cars and public cars in Cuba can be recognized at first glance. They use different plates. The orange plates are private cars and blue plates are government cars. The medium-sized bus we used during our trip in Cuba was a government bus rented out to the travel agency. We didnt see any luxurious cars in Cuba. We were told that even government ministers used Lada, a brand made in Russia.

Buses are the main transportation tools in Cuba. It is quite common to get a lift. The government rules that the government buses and cars must carry those who wish to have a lift if buses and cars have empty seats. Cars with red plates are taxis. Most foreigners drive cars from car rental companies.

Fishing on an Amazon River

After the meal at an Indian restaurant in Manaus, we had half an hour to kill. We would like to fish in the river there. While boating and sightseeing on the river in the Amazon region, we had chatted about nothing but the piranha, a species of ferocious meat-eater that can supposedly strip a cow to bones within a few minutes. As the restaurant on the river was the ideal spot to fish for piranhas, we were overjoyed to try to get a meat-eater or two. It was raining. We got our umbrellas and ventured out. An old man from the restaurant fetched a large bunch of fishing poles, the simplest fishing gear I had ever seen. It was just a long pole and a hook at the end of the line. There was not even a floater. The bait was sliced beef. We stood on the riverside and threw the hook into the water and began to wait. I almost immediately felt the pull of the hook. A fish was biting the bait. I pulled but the fish escaped. Then all of us began to catch fish. When the guide announced that there were about 10 minutes to go, I had caught three, but none was a piranha. All of us wanted to catch one.

When all of us began to put down our poles and got ready to give up, I felt something in the river was biting the bait tentatively. I decided to wait it out. I asked the guide to give me two more minutes. Intuitively I felt it must have been a piranha. After getting new bait, I waited. All the fellows in our tour group came over and watched. Then I threw the pole back and a fish about 300g in weight was in the air. The old man was sent for to see if it was a piranha. The old man gave me a thumb up. We cheered. We took turns in posing with the fish still on the hook. I dared not touch it and asked the old man to get it off the hook. The old man showed us the teeth of the fish. It was not until I saw the rows of sharp teeth that I believed the fish had the capability to eat a man.□